by Robert Rollin
Last Sunday afternoon, October 15, the Chagrin Concert Series presented an exceptional concert of romantic music at Valley Lutheran Church in Chagrin Falls. The highlight was a magnificent performance of Johannes Brahms’s f-minor Piano Quintet, Op. 34. The Allegro non troppo begins with a powerful unison statement. Soon pianist Sungeun Kim’s energetic playing commanded the foreground, as the strings periodically emerged to double her. [Read more…]
by Tom Wachunas
In his program comments celebrating the 80th season of the Canton Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Gerhardt Zimmermann wrote, “Why do I love conducting this wonderful orchestra?…The CSO is that rare gem of orchestras that conductors seek to make music with. Their playing is committed, heartfelt, powerful, and above all, exciting.” For the season-opening concert on October 14, that rare gem dazzled with exceptional brilliance, beginning with Samuel Barber’s Essay For Orchestra No. 2, composed in 1942. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway, Jarrett Hoffman, and Mike Telin
“I knew this was John Corigliano’s 80th birthday season and I really wanted to do something special to celebrate that,” CityMusic Cleveland Artistic Director Avner Dorman said during a telephone conversation. “We thought about showing the film The Red Violin and playing the score. Then we realized that performing the concerto would be more artistically satisfying.”
CityMusic opens its 14th season when Avner Dorman leads a program that celebrates the 80th birthday of composer John Corigliano. The program will include his “The Red Violin” Concerto, featuring Tessa Lark, as well as Robert Schumann’s Overture to Genoveva and Symphony No. 3, “Rhenish.” The first of five area performances will take place on Wednesday, October 18 at 7:30 pm at St. Jerome Church in Cleveland. Click here for additional time, days, and locations.
“I’m excited about this program, and the fact that we managed to put it all together is extraordinary,” Dorman said. “I’m sure this is going to be a huge hit with our audiences. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
At its premiere in 1739, Handel’s Biblical oratorio Israel in Egypt was almost entirely made up of choruses. Even in the composer’s revision, minus the opening lament and with Italian arias added, the work is probably more rewarding to sing than to listen to. Enter Jeannette Sorrell, who decided to restore part of the introduction that Handel lopped off, and to bring the rest of the piece down to under two hours in length. Her version made a fine impression on Friday evening, when Sorrell led Apollo’s Fire, Apollo’s Singers, and five extraordinary soloists in a leaner Israel in Egypt at First Baptist Church in Shaker Heights. [Read more…]
by Hannah Schoepe
Opening a window into the past, Les Délices will explore the polarized yet relational bond between 17th- and 18th-century French and Italian music during its season-opening concerts. “Inspired by Italy” will take place Saturday, October 21 at 8:00 pm at Pilgrim Church in Tremont, and Sunday, October 22 at 4:00 pm at Plymouth Church in Shaker Heights. For ticket information click here.
Les Délices, a Baroque ensemble founded in 2009 by Baroque oboist Debra Nagy, initially specialized in French music. This weekend’s concerts will feature Nagy, Baroque violinist Julie Andrijeski, viola da gambist Emily Walhout, and harpsichordist Mark Edwards. When asked about the French name via email, Nagy wrote, “It means ‘the delights.’ Délices also shares the same root as the words ‘delicious’ or ‘delicacy.’ French Baroque music is sometimes considered a fine delicacy. It is rich and diverse, but not often a central part of a listener’s diet. We wanted the opportunity to introduce this music to a wider audience.” [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
“It’s fun to see people stretch their musical tastes in opposite directions,” tenor John Hagen, who is one third of the popular classical crossover trio, The Texas Tenors, said during a telephone conversation. “You take the fan who’s at one end of the spectrum, either classical or country, and hear how they have come to appreciate other genres of music that they haven’t listened to very often, if at all.”
On Sunday, October 22 at 7:30 pm at Stambaugh Auditorium in Youngstown, The Texas Tenors — opera singer John Hagen, country music singer JC Fisher, and pop singer Marcus Collins — will present a concert of country, classical, Broadway and pop selections. Tickets are available online.
Since their debut eight years ago on NBC’s America’s Got Talent, the Trio has amassed a list of awards including three Emmys for the PBS special You Should Dream. [Read more…]
by Jarrett Hoffman
Famous for his integration of traditional musics of Asia into classical music of the West, composer Lou Harrison died in 2003 at the age of 85 as he was on his way to Ohio State University for a week of performances of his music. A few months shy of his 100th birthday, the Cleveland Museum of Art will celebrate the composer’s centennial this Friday, October 20 at 7:30 pm at CMA’s Gartner Auditorium.
The program includes Harrison’s Concerto for Piano with Javanese Gamelan and his Suite for Violin with American Gamelan, and will feature pianist Sarah Cahill, violinist David Bowlin, and the Boston-based group Gamelan Galak Tika, directed by Evan Ziporyn, playing two of the composer’s own sets of gamelans. [Read more…]
by Mike Telin
Created in 1967 to perform larger chamber works, the Chamber Ensemble of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields performs in all shapes and sizes, from quintets to octets, drawn from the principal players of the orchestra. On Thursday, October 19 at 7:30 pm in E.J. Thomas Hall, Tuesday Musical will present the venerable ensemble in a performance that will include music by Antonín Dvořák and George Enescu. Tickets available online.
Although the London-based Ensemble is celebrating its 50th year, “what many don’t know is that the Academy began as a chamber ensemble playing Baroque music in Neville Marriner’s living room,” violinist Harvey de Souza said by telephone from Northridge, California, where the Ensemble was in the middle of their North American tour. “At that time, people were into these huge massive forces performing Handel’s Messiah with a thousand-voice chorus and huge orchestras and I think he got tired of that. He wanted to get back to the purity of playing concerti grossi with a pair of violins, and that is how it all got started.” [Read more…]
by Robert Rollin
Last Saturday’s Youngstown Symphony season opener at Powers Auditorium under the direction of Music Director Randall Craig Fleischer featured a delightful rendition of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in c with Caroline Oltmanns as soloist. She maintained an impressive focus throughout the performance, playing with delicacy and elegance. [Read more…]
by Daniel Hathaway
Quire Cleveland began its tenth anniversary season with concerts in Painesville and Cleveland devoted to liturgical music by the 17th-century British composer Henry Purcell. On Friday, October 6 at St. John’s Cathedral in downtown Cleveland, Quire was in fine “voyce” as its 21 singers under the direction of founder Ross W. Duffin sang repertoire Purcell composed for the choir of the Chapel Royal between his appointment in 1682 and his untimely death at the age of 35 in 1695. [Read more…]